Webster Park is slated for a host of upgrades and new construction, including a pavilion, after Jackson County Commissioners approved funding for the project earlier this month.

Jackson County is considering the latest round of municipal grant applications that arrived on commissioners desks this week. Among applications from Sylva, Webster, Dillsboro and Village of Forest Hills, municipalities are looking to improve residents’ experience through art, aesthetics and greater accessibility.

Unless someone else signs up to run for Mayor of Forest Hills by noon on Friday, July 26, the Sylva Board of Commissioners will be the only contested race in Jackson County this year. 

With just three days to go before election filing closes, there is still a dearth of candidates for open seats on the Webster Town Council and Village of Forest Hills Council.

The sign-up period to run for municipal office is over in North Carolina, but the Jackson County Board of Elections voted to extend the deadline to run for Webster Town Council by one week in hopes that at least one more person will decide to run. The new deadline is noon Friday, July 28.

Caitlin Derico was 11 years old when her family’s Christmas tradition shifted from stockings to service.

If the selection panel’s pick gets the backing of the full board, Jackson County’s likely to have a new tourism director in place by the time 2016 rolls around.

When William Guffey’s name was first etched on the stone face of the monument outside the old Webster School — along with those of his 10 fallen classmates — the year was 1951, the wounds of World War II were fresh and his niece Barbara Sutton Bennett was a senior at the school.

Neither Webster nor Forest Hills will have vacancies when the new town government terms begin in December, according to official election results. In both elections, write-in votes showed a strong enough consensus to overcome the dearth of candidates to sign up for inclusion on the ballot.

It looks like a shortage of candidates for town board in Webster and Forest Hills won’t mean empty seats in town hall over the next term.